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This article is from the Sea Kayaking FAQ, by Todd Leigh with numerous contributions by others.

57 What happened to the kayaking cultures?

As with most native cultures, outside cultural influences changed the
native culture and the peoples need for kayaking. Manufactured goods
slowly replaced the traditional materials. Lumber instead of driftwood
for the boat frames, iron for the spear tips, the gun replaced the
hunting tools, and eventually the power boat replaced the kayak. In
some cases the depletion of the local animals due to overhunting
caused a decline in kayaking.

Today traditional kayaking is kept alive by schools run in Greenland
and the Aleutian Islands. Much of the traditional kayaking technology
and skills have been lost. Some boat designs survive only in drawings
made by early explorers that did not have any dimensions. Many kayaks
stored in museums were improperly stored and have been unintentionally
destroyed. All this makes comparison of the modern kayak and its
equipment against the traditional kayak and its equipment difficult or
impossible.

 

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• prev: 56 Was kayak hunting dangerous?
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• next: 58 What is the history of the development of the modern kayaks?

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